Memory of Liz — Jerry begins the circus

In the first month of his first season in Dallas, Jerry Jones outlined what kind of owner he would become.

Then, before a game against the Redskins in Texas Stadium, this is how an official began the coin toss: “Captains from Dallas, meet the captains from Washington. Captains from Washington, meet Liz Taylor and Jerry Jones.”

“I didn’t want to shake their hand,” Manley said then. “This is football, man, not Hollywood.”

Jones has never seen the separation as clearly. He invited Taylor to join him, and she happily accepted. She was in town to publicize a new perfume.

Taylor called heads, which is what the coin said, too. The official, Pat Haggerty, gave the ball to the Cowboys. But visiting teams always call the toss, which another Redskin, Reggie Branch, loudly pointed out. Washington won the next toss.

“Hey, you’ve got to be alert,” Branch said afterward. “It’s the first time I’d met her in person, and she’s a beautiful young lady. But this is no act; this is the real thing. This isn’t the HBO show, ‘First and 10.’

So some will remember Elizabeth Taylor for her movies, and some for her beauty, and some for her eight marriages. But others will remember the time Jones walked out with her to midfield, announcing to the world at the same time that he wants attention, and he wants glamour to sell his product.

Joe Gibbs likely remembers. “That’s the first time I ever got mad at a coin flip,” he said that day.